Real-time tracking of the prostate gland During radiation treatment with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). This technology - called Calypso - works like a global positioning system for the prostate allowing for continuous monitoring of the gland during treatment for the most precise delivery of high-dose radiation.
You have diabetes and want to exercise. It is possible, says Dr. Stephen G. Rosen, Chief of Endocrinology & Metabolism at Pennsylvania Hospital. Diabetes affects 20.8 million people in the, about 7% of the population, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Researchers have identified a new strategy that Kaposi's Sarcoma Associated Herpesvirus uses to dupe infected cells into replicating its viral genome. This is the first study to directly show that a section of viral DNA can independently draw upon proteins within a host cell to promote its own replication.
Researchers have found that a commonly prescribed diabetes drug kills tumor cells that lack a key regulatory gene called p53. Results from current studies in mice may result in new therapies for a subset of human cancers that tend to be aggressive and resistant to existing treatments.
Researchers have found that proteins known to promote cell death are also necessary for the maturation and proliferation of immune cells. The results bolster the team's hypothesis that metabolic cell activity directly controls life and death decisions in cells.
Researchers have discovered that a group of liver enzymes may be the key to raising levels of good cholesterol (HDL-C). The pathway by which these proteins are able to achieve an increase in HDL cholesterol involves another enzyme that normally degrades HDL-C. The newly recognized relationship between these enzymes and cholesterol represents another target for ultimately controlling good cholesterol.
Researchers recently identified how a regulatory protein called Bcl-3 helps to control the body's inflammation response to infection by interfering a critical biochemical process called ubiquitination. Their findings open new avenues for developing therapies to treat such diseases as sepsis, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Researchers have discovered a unique molecular pathway that detects and selectively eliminates defective messenger RNAs from red blood cells. Knowing how this specific surveillance system works can help researchers better understand hereditary diseases
According to a study published in the current issue of the Annals of Family Medicine, Penn researchers report that a four-year study of patients receiving an alternative method of obstetric care experienced a significantly lower rate of cesarean births.
Penn investigators are the first to observe and measure the internal motion inside proteins, revealing how this affects their function. This overturns the standard view of protein structure-function relationships and suggests why rational drug design has been so difficult.
As a lazy summer filled with cookouts and ice cream cones draws to a close, it's a great time to focus on incorporating a healthy lifestyle into the back-to-school routine.
Injuries are the leading cause of death in young people, and most of them are preventable. Brain injuries are the most serious and deadly, and parents can protect their children by having them wear the right helmet, know football safety, cut those drawstrings out of sweatshirt hoods, and check playground surfaces. Peter LeRoux, MD, FACS, is a neurosurgeon and expert on brain injury prevention.
This fall, send your kids off to school with a healthy lunch. "A nutritious lunch should appeal to your kids' taste buds and help keep them focused for the rest of the school day," says Debra DeMille, MS, RD, a Nutritional Counselor at Pennsylvania Hospital. She offers tasty and healthy suggestions.
To test the ability of combined therapy, researchers administered TRAIL, a tumor necrosis factor, and sorafenib, an inhibitor currently used to treat renal cancer, to mice with colon carcinomas. It reduced the size of tumors in mice with few side effects.
Researchers report how the gene for utrophin, which codes for a protein very similar to dystrophin, the defective protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), puts the brakes on its own expression in muscle cells, thereby suggesting a new target for treatment.
While most RNAs work to create, package, and transfer proteins as determined by the cell's immediate needs, miniature pieces of RNA, called microRNAs regulate gene expression. Recently, researchers determined how miRNAs team up with a regulatory protein to halt protein production.
A team of cancer specialists from OncoLink.org, the award-winning cancer Web-based resource of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, has launched OncoLife, the first and only individualized plan-of-care based on the national Institute of Medicine's recommendations for adult cancer survivors. Free and easy to use, the new program "“ soon to be available in Spanish "“ provides cancer survivors with information regarding the health risks they face as a result of cancer therapies, as well as a defined plan of action to maintain their health once they are out of treatment.
Existing methods of detecting drug-resistant forms of HIV are expensive, time consuming, and often fail to identify small populations of drug-resistant HIV. Now, researchers have developed a drug resistance screening method that analyzes multiple HIV variants at the same time, while also saving time and money.
Penn will receive $1.5 million annually from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke over the next five years to study Parkinson's disease, as well as enhance the care and treatment of patients and training of physicians. The Penn Center is the only one to focus on dementia and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease.
Researchers have identified proteins in the rod and cones of the eye that could lead to the discovery of the genetic causes of a host of inherited eye diseases. Specifically, they have identified and measured the types and amounts of proteins in the light-sensing parts of the eye's retina.
Researchers have discovered a molecular link between the cell's two major pathways for breaking down proteins and have succeeded in using this link to rescue neurodegenerative diseases in a simple animal model.
Using new MRI techniques to analyze tissue composition and structure in the brain, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging successfully detected mild cognitive disorder (MCI), a condition in which patients suffer mild memory problems and is often an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Researchers have discovered a potential new target for treating type 2 diabetes. The target is a protein, along with its molecular partner, that regulates fat metabolism.
Researchers found that deleting a gene important in embryo development leads to premature aging and loss of stem cell reservoirs in adult mice. This gene, ATR, is essential for the body's response to damaged DNA.
Researchers at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute describe the possibility of a new candidate breast-cancer susceptibility gene. The Rap80 gene is required for the normal DNA-repair function of the well-known breast cancer gene BRCA1.
Researchers have found in a database study of women heart patients that COX inhibitors such as traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may undermine any purported protection against heart disease in participants taking estrogen therapy.
Researchers have found that hair follicles in adult mice regenerate by re-awakening genes once active only in developing embryos. These findings provide unequivocal evidence for the first time that mammals have the power to regenerate.
Older patients with major depression whose primary care physicians team with depression care managers are 45% less likely to die within a 5-year time period than older adults with major depression who receive their care in primary care practices where there are no depression care managers.
Most research on Lou Gehrig's disease therapeutics has been based on the assumption that its two forms (sporadic and hereditary) are similar in their underlying cause. Now, researchers have found an absolute biochemical distinction between these two disease variants.
Previously-published research has given credence to the notion that psychotherapy extends the lives of people with cancer. However, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine concluded "“ after an extensive research review "“ that there is no compelling evidence linking psychotherapy or support groups with survival among cancer patients.
Using a new type of drug that targets a specific genetic defect, researchers at Pennsylvania, PTC Therapeutics Inc. and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, have for the first time demonstrated restoration of muscle function in a mouse model of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.
Researchers have discovered that an enzyme produced by lung-infecting bacteria further shuts down a protein that is defective in cystic fibrosis patients. The disruption to this protein that conveys ions from lung cells to airways causes thick mucus to buildup inside the lung. The finding suggests a new therapeutic target for treating lung infections in some cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.
Using a novel video-imaging system, researchers have been able to observe proteins important in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease moving along axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry proteins away from the cell body. Understanding this process of axonal transport is important for studying many neurodegenerative diseases.
According to a study that appears in the April 17 issue of Neurology, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that natalizumab (TYSABRI®) "“ a drug that slows disability and reduces relapse rates in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) "“ also reduces vision loss in patients with relapsing MS.
Researchers have discovered a better way to deliver drugs to tumors. By using a cylindrical-shaped carrier they were able sustain delivery of the anticancer drug paclitaxel to an animal model of lung cancer ten times longer than that delivered on spherical-shaped carriers.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are now studying an investigational treatment that may offer a significant new, minimally-invasive option for those suffering from advanced widespread emphysema.
Past studies in tissue culture have suggested that one type of pancreas cell could be coaxed to transform into insulin-producing islet cells. Now, researchers have demonstrated that these pancreatic acinar cells do not become insulin-producing cells in an animal model. However, they did show that injured pancreatic cells readily regenerate back into healthy acinar cells, which has implications for treating cancer and inflammation of the pancreas.
Lance Becker, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been named Director of Penn's new Center for Resuscitation Science. The Center will focus on cellular research to aid in developing new and improved techniques to treat cardiac arrest. The Center will consist of three full-time labs and a clinical and administration branch.
To probe the secrets of inaccessible transmembrane proteins, researchers have designed peptides that are able to bind to specific inner regions, using computer algorithms, and information from existing protein sequence and structure databases.
The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania Health System and School of Medicine, and Penn's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology have announced today the establishment of the Center for Research on Early Detection and Cure of Ovarian Cancer. Renowned oncologist and research scientist George Coukos, MD, PhD is named Director.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are harnessing two new, non-invasive techniques to look more closely inside the working lungs - leading to early detection of diseases, like emphysema, before it becomes evident in other modes of imaging.
In this high-tech age of modern medicine, could it be possible to treat the leading cause of death in the U.S. through the power of meditation? According to a first-of-its-kind randomized study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Division of Geriatric Medicine, transcendental meditation can significantly reduce the severity of congestive heart failure.
Unlike most of our sensory systems that detect only one type of stimuli, our sense of smell works double duty, detecting both chemical and mechanical stimuli to improve how we smell. According to a Penn study on olfactory nerve cells, this finding, plus the fact that both types of stimuli produce reaction in olfactory nerve cells explains why we sniff to smell something, and why our sense of smell is synchronized with inhaling.
Researchers have determined a way to pre-screen cancer patients to see if they are suitable candidates for proteasome inhibitors, a promising class of anti-cancer drugs. They propose to test for p53, a well-known tumor-suppressor protein that is broken down by cellular machinery called proteasomes.
Many autoimmune diseases are aggravated when the immune regulatory cell malfunctions. One cause is a mutation in the FOXP3 gene, which disables the immune cells' ability to function. Penn researchers have discovered how to modify enzymes that act on the FOXP3 protein, in turn making the cells work better.
How do immune cells decide to respond to invading microbes by either fighting to the death or becoming the body's memory for future infections? Penn researchers have discovered that immune cells can differ in their inheritance of molecules that regulate cell fate, and therefore what role they play in fighting infection.
It has been known for decades that heart attacks and strokes occur most frequently in the early-morning hours. Now, researchers have provided the first molecular evidence for the role of our body's internal clock in controlling blood pressure.
Investigators have discovered that an enzyme important in fetal heart-cell development regulates the enlargement of heart cells, known as cardiac hypertrophy, which is a precursor to many forms of congestive heart failure.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that chronic subjective dizziness (CSD) may have several common causes, including anxiety disorders, migraine, mild traumatic brain injuries, and neurally mediated dysautonomias "“ disorders in the autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary actions.
A 46-year-old former fitness instructor, suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and in irreversible cardiogenic shock, has become the first to receive a new temporary Total Artificial Heart in the Northeast U.S. by cardiac surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
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